A new study reveals older patients contracting COVID have more signs of brain damage than people who develop the neurodegenerative disease.

Specifically, a team from NYU Grossman School of Medicine found significantly higher levels of certain blood proteins which typically rise when someone suffers neurological damage among COVID patients.

Researchers say, over the short-term course of their infections, seven markers of brain damage were noticeably higher among COVID patients than non-COVID patients with Alzheimer’s.

“Our findings suggest that patients hospitalized for COVID-19, and especially in those experiencing neurological symptoms during their acute infection, may have levels of brain injury markers that are as high as, or higher than, those seen in people who have Alzheimer’s disease,” says lead author Jennifer Frontera, MD, a professor in the Department of Neurology, in a university release.

Results show the seven brain damage markers were over 60 percent higher among COVID patients with TME than those without the neurological symptoms.

Concerningly, study authors found the markers for brain damage were even worse among patients that did not survive their coronavirus infection.

Markers among patients who died from COVID were 124 percent higher than those who eventually left the hospital.

In comparison to patients with Alzheimer’s, results show markers for neurofilament light chain were 179 percent higher among coronavirus patients over the short-term.

Levels of GFAP were also 65 percent higher among COVID patients in comparison to those with dementia.